Electrotextiles, also known as E-textiles and electronic textiles, are fabrics with electronic interconnection elements for energy and data transfer within their structure, such as conductive wires or particles. The fabric or textile acts as a support into which the conductive elements are added.
However, adding conductive functionalities to conventional textiles creates challenges. As conventional textiles, electrotextiles must be washable. Thus, accelerated corrosion problems occur to the conductive elements embedded in the textile. There is thus a need to protect the conductive elements, slow down corrosion problems, and increase the lifetime of the electrotextiles while maintaining acceptable production costs and rates.
Furthermore, the elasticity of the textile should be maintained, non-rectilinear or irregular patterns may be needed and the electrical conductors should be accessible.